A Year After A Postal Worker Crashed Into Their Car, West Garfield Park Couple Still Waiting For USPS To Pay For Their Damages
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It was caught on camera: a postal worker damaged a car on the West Side, and simply drove away. One year later, the owners of the car still haven't been reimbursed, so they turned to the Morning Insiders for help.
CBS 2's Jim Williams reports it was bad enough that a postal worker jut tossed a package at Vera and Donald Rideaux's front porch in West Garfield Park.
"Didn't ring bell, just threw it up there," Don said.
What that postal worker did next was worse, captured by the Rideaux's home security camera.
As the postal worker pulled away, he hit the couple's van, "and he kept backing the truck up, back and forth, back and forth, pulling my car at the same time."
The postal worker surely saw the damage when he got of his truck.
"He looked at the car. He looked up the street, and he got back in it, and he drove off," Vera said.
The postal worker just left, so the couple's grandson got in his car and caught up with the worker a block away. His reply?
"He tells us 'do what you got to do,' and he goes on about his business," Don said.
"'My grandmother has you on camera.' He says, 'Oh yeah, well, do what you got to do,'" Vera said.
WILLIAMS: "When you saw this happen and he just drove away, what was your reaction?"
DON: "I can't say that on camera."
WILLIAMS: "You were angry?"
DON: "Oh yes."
WILLIAMS: "Had some profanity under your breath?"
DON: "Oh yes, cause it made no sense."
The couple then called the Postal Service.
You would think, because the evidence is clear, that the post office would take care of this quickly. But it happened one year ago and there is still no resolution.
One year after $1,467 in damages, and a $1,000 deductible, still no action from the Postal Service.
"They didn't come and check nothing," Don said.
So we called the Postal Service. A spokesman apologized to Don and Vera, and passed on the tort claim phone number.
"Why don't they go ahead and give me my money and we're done with it?" Don said.
A simple request. We'll follow up.
A Postal Service spokesman said its drivers are required to notify their immediate managers when they're involved in an accident. The spokesman would not say whether the driver in this story did that.
According to the spokesman, there were 26,000 accidents involving Postal Service drivers in 2020.